Council approves ward redistricting at special meeting

During a specially scheduled council meeting yesterday morning at 8:30, the City Council unanimously adopted the proposed redistricting ward lines by a vote of 8-0. Ward 7 Councilman Charles “C.J.” Donovan was the sole council member not in attendance.

The meeting was scheduled in order for the Board of Canvassers to be able to send out mailings to residents in time for upcoming elections. Voters must receive the mailings by May 25.

The resolution was originally planned to be voted on at last Monday’s council meeting, but was held until the May 14 meeting for further study at the request of Ward 9 Councilman Steven Merolla.

At the start of yesterday’s meeting, Purchasing Agent Jim Marcello asked the council to approve the resolution with an amendment that listed the award for a vender is to be determined so Donna McDonald, the director of elections for the Board of Canvassers, could have more time to contact other venders and receive additional bids.

However, while the three bids she provided did not include an amount for postage, the council was satisfied with one of the bids and recommended awarding it to Image Printing for $2,672. Printing and mailing is not to exceed $25,000.

“I feel much more comfortable to award the bid to the lowest bidder as long as we have a cap on it,” said Ward 1 Councilman Steven Colantuono.

Ward 4 Councilman Joseph Solomon agreed.

“You’ve done your due diligence. Let’s act with certainty and award the bid,” he said.

The two other bidders were both more than $1,000 higher than the bid received from Image Printing. The first was $3,909.42 and the second was $3,720.

In other business, the council met in an executive communication session immediately following the vote to award the bid. The private session involved potential litigation relative to a case concerning discrimination.

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